Solutions for traffic jams in Belgium

The Flemish Roads and Traffic Agency has commissioned Witteveen+Bos to help improve traffic throughflow at a number of junctions in and around the city of Kortrijk. The contract was awarded to Witteveen+Bos and local partner TML (Transport & Mobility Leuven) on account of the favourable price-quality ratio offered by this consortium.

In the current situation, traffic jams arise frequently at various locations in the Kortrijk area. These problems have a number of causes. For instance, the Kortrijk-South and Kortrijk-East junctions are not optimally designed because the R8 ring road is not completely closed. In addition, plans call for various network and spatial developments in the Kortrijk area. This is expected to lead to increased congestion at a number of junctions. In their current form, the junctions will no longer be able to handle traffic flows in future. In its capacity as the responsible road management authority, the Roads and Traffic Agency wants to prevent these problems by investigating the impact that network and spatial developments will have on traffic flows.

The aim of the project is to make a transparent, carefully substantiated assessment that will result in widely supported preferred solutions for the junctions involved. In the first phase, we will analyse the current traffic situation and examine the feasibility of the various scenarios by performing a multi-criteria analysis. In early 2018, we will start producing a preliminary design that will enable an assessment of the space required for the alteration or expansion of the traffic junctions. We will simultaneously prepare an overview of optional minor traffic measures that can be implemented quickly to alleviate congestion in the short term.